New Boy in Town
by ObsessedFan1
Summary: The summer after fourth year promised to be hot, humid, and -if her attempt to sit with Sev on the train was any indication- friendless for Lily. It'd take a miracle to change that.
1. Chapter 1

**Well, a personal challenge to me to write and post the idea that's been rattling around in my head for years. Which is, along with the headcannons embedded in this fic, the only thing I own.**

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"Mum, remind me why we're doing this?" Lily asked, rather proud of the amount of sheer annoyance she didn't let leak into her voice.

"Because we have new neighbors and it's polite to bring a welcome gift when someone new comes into the neighborhood, Lily Jane," her mother responded somewhat exasperatedly. "Honestly, Petunia never complains about meeting new people. It's not like it's the end of the world to be a little friendly."

 _That's because Petunia is as much a nosy gossip as you are_ , Lily thought. She sighed and readjusted her grip on the basket full of homemade jelly. It wasn't that she didn't want to meet the new neighbors; almost no one moved _to_ Cokeworth, so it was always an exciting prospect, but she didn't appreciate getting dragged along on her mum's scheme to learn their every last dirty secret. She didn't even know their last name, for heaven's sake, she had barely come off the Hogwarts Express yesterday.

"Now, remember, dear, they've got a son about your age, so it won't be all bad. You might even make a new friend!" her mum said brightly as the approached the new neighbor's rather squalid-looking home. It was in the river district, nearer to Sev's house than hers, and had been recently bought after years of being abandoned. According to her mother, the couple who had moved in must be repairing the inside of the home before the outside, an assumption Lily found she could absolutely agree with after seeing the state of the place.

Knocking on the door, Lily and her mum waited for the people within to answer; after a few minutes, the door creaked open (they both flinched at the obnoxious noise the door hinge made) and a slight woman with soft brown hair appeared. She frowned slightly, confused. "May I help you?"

Her mum beamed at the woman, eyes flashing to take in her fraying blue dress and rather worn-looking shoes. "Hello there! I'm Peggy Evans, this is my daughter Lily, we live just over the way and thought we'd pop in to say hello and bring you a gift to welcome you to the neighborhood!"

The woman's mouth fell open slightly as Lily presented her with the basket, giving a counterfeit grin and wishing she could be anywhere else. "Uh, well, thank you. I— thank you, Mrs. Evans. I'm Hope, it's good to meet you." She had a slight Welsh accent, but nothing more distinct. She wasn't all that remarkable looking; a pretty face past its prime, her mother would have called it. The beginnings of lines were present in between her eyebrows and as she moved the sunlight caught a few grey hairs intermixed in the brown.

"Oh, dear! Let me help you with that," Peggy said. She caught the drooping end of the basket, helping Hope to balance it, and proceeded to insist on helping to carry it in, despite her protests.

Lily followed behind her mother, looking apologetically at Hope, and helped her settle the heavy basket on the ratty coffee table in the middle of the front room. Peggy huffed, and continued to grin at Hope. "I know how heavy one of those things can get. Near impossible for just one woman to lift herself sometimes, aren't they?"

"I suppose." Hope's words were quiet, and she looked at them in worry and —was Lily just imagining it, or was it really there?— a little fear. Seeming to come to a conclusion, Hope bit her bottom lip and asked shakily if they wanted any tea.

"Oh, yes, dear, that'd be amazing wouldn't it, Lily?" her mum said, settling down on a sofa behind her and gesturing for Lily to join her.

"Would you like any help, ma'am?" she said instead. But Hope shook her head and motioned for her to sit by her mother. "It's fine, I've already got some water that's hot."

She bustled into the kitchen, leaving Lily to glare at her mother in peace. Peggy pretended not to notice, and surveyed the room with mounting interest instead. The state of the coffee table seemed to match everything else in the room; cleaned and well-cared for, but chipped, frayed, or patched in ways that spoke of being kept for far longer than it was meant to be used.

Hope reappeared, clutching three mugs of water with tea bags sticking out of them. "I hope Earl Gray is alright?" she said softly, handing the pair of them a mug apiece. They were chipped as well, but sparkling clean and the tea was incredible.

Lily sipped hers slowly. Her mother, however, barely drank any of her drink, instead chattering about the neighborhood to a quiet Hope. "Now, Hope, I must ask, what brought you here to Cokeworth? Not many decide to come here, not unless they mean to work at the factory."

"My husband and I needed a new living situation. Our son wasn't doing very well where we had been before."

"Oh, a son? How old?"

"Fifteen this past March."

"Really? My Lily turned fifteen in January."

Hope smiled at Lily. "How exciting. I suppose you're enjoying being fifteen?"

"It doesn't really seem that different from fourteen to be honest, ma'am."

A clatter arose from the doorway to the kitchen and a thin, lanky boy appeared. "Mum! Did you want the pans in the cupboard— Lily?"

Shock ran through her entire body as if someone had just pressed a defibrillator to her chest. "Remus? What the bloody—"

"LILY!" her mother yelped, aghast at her daughter's language.

Lily ignored her mother, asking again, "What are you doing here?"

"I live here. What are— do you live here as well?" Remus looked honestly confused, but Lily was suddenly wary of a pie being thrown at her face. Not that Remus was prone to doing stupid things without Potter or Black's influence, but if this was a prank that was targeting her in her home town…heads. Would. Roll. As such, her confirming words were spoken with a certain amount of suspicion that seemed to confuse Remus even further.

"Remus?" Hope's voice seemed to shake him out of his stupor.

"Oh…uh, Mum, this is Lily Evans, Lily, this is my mother."

Lily froze for the second time in so many minutes. It felt as though someone had upended a bucket on ice water on her head; this was his mother— the one who was constantly sick and who needed him to come home every couple months, even when he was up at Hogwarts. The dilapidated house and state of the furniture suddenly made sense; the Muggle government might give their citizens free healthcare, but the Ministry of Magic didn't and who knew how expensive St. Mungo's could get after repeated use?

The realization left her rather numb as Remus and his mother kept speaking.

"Lily Evans? The name sounds familiar…"

"She's the one who takes notes for me in Charms, Mum. I've written about her…"

"Oh, yes. Lily. Top in the class besides James and Sirius, yes?"

Lily mentally shook herself. "I think that might go to Remus, actually, Mrs. Lupin," she said with a smile only a little less fake than the one she had originally greeted the woman with.

Mrs. Lupin smiled back and Remus ducked his head, embarrassed. "Lily…"

"What? It's true."

"Not really, I mean—"

"Hope, don't tell me we suffer from the same horrible affliction to our family!" Her mother interjected, laughing. Both Hope and Remus flinched, a certain look of horror coming over their features before her mother continued. "An overly humble child!" Lily could have smacked her.

Peggy laughed, and Mrs. Lupin smiled shakily. "Honestly, I can never get anything out of her regarding how well she's doing in class, it's all about her friends and some group of troublemakers in her year," she continued, even as Remus stayed tense. "Oh, this is such fun to be able to talk about Lily's school with someone! There's only Lily and that Snape boy who're wizards in this town, and if you haven't found out already, dear" —her voice dropped in volume and she leaned in closer to Hope's white face— "that boy's mother— horrible woman. Can barely carry on a conversation with her."

"I haven't done much socializing," Hope admitted.

"No? Oh, you would love out Book Club, I can just feel it. Do you like books?"

"Yes, but—"

"Splendid! Right now we're reading this wonderful book called Tuck Everlasting, it's a children's book, actually, about a family—"

"Peggy, I'm afraid I have to say no." Hope's simple refusal knocked the wind out of her mother's tirade. "We don't know how long we'll be staying here, after all, and I wouldn't want to make a commitment I couldn't keep."

Remus shifted awkwardly behind his mother, his hand crossing his chest to rest on his opposite elbow. "You could, Mum," he muttered, then asked louder, "How often are the meetings, Mrs. Evans?"

"Remus—"

"Oh, just once a month. Nothing more than that."

"Mum—"

"Remus." For the first time, Hope's tone was sharp. She softened as her son glanced down at the floor not saying anything further. She turned back to Peggy, decorating her face with a beatific smile. "Thank you for the offer, Peggy, but, like I said, I don't think it would be a very good idea."

Her mother nodded; her eyes were narrowed suspiciously at Remus, who still hadn't looked up from the ground, and she smiled without it matching in her eyes. "Of course, dear, it's no bother."

"Now, I hope you don't mind, but we still have a lot to do before my husband gets home for the night…"

"Oh, of course, let us get out of your hair. Come on, Lily."

The two of them made their way out the front door, accompanied by many kind-hearted goodbyes and promises of a future visits exchanged between the three women. Remus's eyes still hadn't left the floor.

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 **To be fair, this is the first serious thing I've posted in years, so I'd prefer constructive criticism to straight-up insults. If you'd be so kind...?**


	2. Chapter 2

**And now we have the second installment. I'm pretty tired right now, so I'm going to stop writing and let you get to the actual story.**

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Lily lay out in her front yard sunbathing. While not used to nor enjoying the sensation of being outside in a bikini, her mother had been right; the sun was doing her a massive lot of good. Just being outside and not needing to think was doing her a lot of good.

It was officially three weeks into summer holidays and while she hadn't seen Remus again since meeting his mother, Severus had been over a few times. It pained Lily to admit it, but she and her friend were really growing apart. He had been worse than ever this past year, ignoring her mostly, only spending time with her when his snakey little friends couldn't see him, and they'd already had a fight the last time she had tried to bring it up.

And there went her peaceful thoughts. Sighing heavily, but knowing she wasn't likely to get anymore rest while her thoughts were dwelling on her oldest friend, she sat up and pulled one of her knees up so she could rest her chin on it. She was getting freckly, she observed, the brown spots on her legs more numerous than ever. Hopefully, her face had been spared this time so she didn't end up looking like she had spattegroit.

"Lily?" a voice called from her fence. She looked up to see Remus standing with one hand on her gate, blushing, but smiling questioningly at her. "I had hoped to spend some time with you, but if you're too busy—"

"No! No, it's fine, just let me—" she stood up and grabbed her dress —just a simple shift that her mum had bought her to go over her swimsuit should she ever get invited to go swimming— and pulled on her sandals. That done, she bounded over to where Remus was standing, smiling widely. "How are you?"

"I'm fine. You?" he said backing away from the gate so she could leave the enclosed area. Even dressed in Muggle clothes, an old-fashioned pair of slacks and button up shirt, he was a welcome reminder of Hogwarts, away from Petunia and Mum's gossip. Not that she didn't love them both, she did, but just like her father, Lily had always annoyed with the other female Evans' penchant for finding skeletons in their neighbors' closets.

"I'm not bad. Happy that summer's here."

"Hm. I miss school, to be completely honest."

"So do I, sometimes. Then I remember what a nightmare final exams were and I feel grateful to get away from it all and have time to just relax."

"There is that," Remus agreed. "But I miss being around so many people our age."

Lily snorted. "You mean being around those fatheads, Potter and Black."

Remus frowned. "Lily—"

She raised her hands in front of her in a gesture of surrender. "Yes, yes, I'm sorry. I know they're your friends." _Though I can't imagine why_ , she added silently.

They walked in silence for a bit before Remus spoke again. "They're good people, Lily."

Lily missed a step and looked at him with a mixture of incredulity and real anger. "What! Oh, I'm sorry, did I miss the past four years or did you?"

"No, Lily, I didn't mean—" Remus tried to explain, but Lily ignored him and kept talking.

"I'll tell you how nice they are! They so nice that Sev ended up in the Hospital Wing for two days! And Davey Gudgeon nearly lost an eye and—"

"Davey wasn't their fault, Lily—"

"—not to mention what they say to Pettigrew, who thinks the sun shines out of Potter's—"

"Please, Lily, I don't want to argue." There was something desperate in the words that made Lily finally stop. She couldn't feel awful over what she had said —it was the truth after all— but the apologetic and nervous expression on her friends face was enough to make her cut off her tirade.

"How's your mum?" Lily asked after a half a block passed in silence.

"She's fine."

"Has she been feeling better lately?" Lily pressed slightly, hoping to get the shy boy to open up some, but only succeeding in making him look awkward and nervous.

"Wha- uh, yes. Yes. She's been fine recently."

"I, uh, I had to tell my mum that she's ill. She's a bit of a gossip really, and she won't stop until she knows everything about everyone and your mum just refused her book club without really telling her why and so I—" Remus squirmed slightly and Lily broke off the end of her sentence. "Sorry, I know you don't like talking about it."

Remus smiled wryly. "You're alright. Does everyone in the neighborhood know then, if your mother has a habit of gossiping?"

"Try addiction," Lily corrected flatly, "but I think I managed to shout her down to the point where she won't tell anyone."

"Thank you. Mum isn't happy that I tell people she's sick at school."

"Is…is it very bad?" Lily asked quietly. She had never noticed him talking about his mother possibly dying, but he didn't speak about his mother illness very often and the only other students who seem to know anything concrete were just as tight-lipped about it as Remus.

"It…comes and goes. My father works almost constantly, so when Mum gets sick, she can't really handle things on her own. That's why I have to visit sometimes, then come back once she's feeling better."

"Right."

"I saw Severus the other day. He didn't see me, I don't think, but he passed by my house while I was reading in the front room. I didn't realize you lived to close together," Remus commented, changing the subject entirely.

Lily nodded. Sick mother was too sensitive a subject, she could work with that. "We were the only two wizarding families in this town until you moved in. He was the one who told me I was a witch," she said to follow his lead in the conversation.

"I think your mum mentioned something like that."

"Yeah. But it's been getting harder and harder to spend time with him. He spends a lot of time shut up nowadays."

Remus nodded, looking a little awkward. Lily grimaced.

"Have you started on your summer homework yet?" Remus asked. "I tried to start on Transfiguration a few days ago, and my head started spinning."

Lily laughed. "Well, don't try fishing for help from me. I managed well enough last year, but if even you're struggling…"

"You make it sound like I have actually understood what she talking about for the past four years."

Lily laughed. "Le gasp! Are you telling me that Mr. Top-Marks-Lupin, is secretly cheating?"

Remus rolled his shoulders, attempting suaveness but not pulling it off nearly as well as either Black or Potter ever had. "Well, it certainly doesn't hurt to have a mate who's naturally brilliant at all this transfiguration."

Speaking of the two idiots. "Are you talking about Potter or Black?"

"James. Sirius only seems so smart because his parents had him learned most of Hogwarts curriculum up to fourth year. He's actually been reviewing rather than learning this entire time."

"Why on Earth would they—"

"They wanted Sirius to be the best. Literally, the best out of all of Hogwarts." A note of bitterness had entered his voice. Muted, but there. Lily furrowed her brow.

"Well, he does get top marks."

"He used to. He's considering letting it go this year for the sake of, quote, 'Sticking it to his parents.'"

Lily rolled her eyes. "Sirius Black. Such a polite, refined gentleman, wouldn't you agree?"

They laughed, Remus quietly and Lily snorting in a very unladylike fashion. Unfortunately, it was when she drew breath to make another quip at Black's expense that she realized where they had stopped. The Snape house, in all its dilapidated glory was right across from them, and a small, sallow figure was present in the upstairs window, clearly staring directly at the both of them.

Lily's breath caught. She couldn't seem him clearly to make eye-contact from the window, but she knew he was glaring at her. Remus stopped laughing slowly and glanced to where she was staring, his expression of concern turning to one of discomfort when he realized who their spy was.

"Um, Lily?"

She kept her eyes locked on the other boy as she replied, "Yes, Remus?"

"Should we— I mean— do you think that—"

He cut off abruptly when Severus did an about face in his bedroom window and walked out of sight. Lily swallowed a yell of purest frustration and smiled brightly at the lanky boy beside her. "You know what? I think I'm going to head home and try to start that Transfiguration homework. Think we could meet up another time?"

"Sure. Do you want me to walk you back to your house?" Remus asked, concern bleeding out into his voice. Lily glanced at the window Severus had disappeared from.

"No," she said finally, grimly pleased that her voice was level. "Your house is just around the corner, I won't keep you."

"I don't min—"

"Have you been to the shopping center yet? They put in a new dollar cinema just a few months ago. Could be fun."

Remus bit his lip and seemed to examine her face before answering. "…Saturday?"

"Alright. See you then." Lily turned around smartly and marched back to her home, not giving a single backwards glance to her best friend's house.


End file.
